Amid political battles over the role of government in health care and other functions, White House officials Sunday offered carefully drawn statements describing how far the president would go in pushing for a so-called “public option’ alternative to private insurance in his health care overhaul initiative.
The president “believes the public option is a good tool,” said David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” But Axelrod added: “It shouldn’t define the whole health care debate, however.”
The president addresses a joint session of Congress Wednesday in the hope of reigniting interest in retooling the nation’s health insurance system. In advance of the nationally televised speech, he has been buffeted by pressure from the left and the right over the public option, a government-backed policy that that would be offered alongside private plans to promote competition and assure coverage for the uninsured.
Stuff like this makes me want to burst out into song:
Spin, spin, spin…the boys are marching!
A distinction without a difference. They are just aching to get that camel’s nose under the tent.
And I’m as ready as anyone else to push it back out!